Bastion DxD
by CX4
Summary: Now here's a kid who's had a tough life, to put it lightly. No family to speak of, no real friends, and is just barely getting by. What's worse is when things finally start to look for up him his luck takes a major nosedive; but it's always darkest before dawn, and his dawn comes in a very much unexpected way…


Kaidou Yamada (A.K.A. "Kid") is on his way home after a long day's work. He's tired, hungry, and just a little annoyed; but being both of the former does that to most people. As he traverses the now dark streets of the city, his mind wanders, contemplating his life, where he started, where he is now, and how he got here.

Kid was born sixteen years ago, never knew his father, but is mother was there to teach him right from wrong. She had snow white hair, and beautiful light brown skin, both of which Kid inherited, and both of which always got him attention; the wrong kind of attention. Kid was always bullied for his features, at first he was confused, and a little depressed; why did they pick on him for something he had no control over? Was it really that bad? Despite his mother's constant reassurance these thoughts always floated in his head. Until one day, he just couldn't take it anymore, he fought the kid who was picking on him and won. Since then, he never let anyone bully him, he always fought back, and though he didn't always win, eventually people figured he wasn't worth the trouble and left him alone.

After that things went generally well until his mother got sick. She would often go to the hospital and sometimes take Kid with her (He still wasn't old enough to stay home by himself). During these visits many words and phrases that Kid didn't understand got thrown around, "Cancer" and "Time to live" were the ones that stuck the most. As time went by his mother's condition got worse and worse until…she was gone. Kid felt lost, hopeless, and angry, why did she have to go? Why couldn't he do anything to help her? These thoughts plagued him day and night. He was never quite the same after that, he almost completely stopped talking, which was a shame because his mother always loved his voice, it was smooth but had a light rasp that she found adorable. He also became more violent, getting into fights almost every day until he was kicked out of school. Home wasn't much of a "home" either; the foster family he ended up with was less than kind, to put it lightly. He was abused in different ways, verbally, physically, and even mentally when they would leave him out of family activates. Family outings, the occasional movie night, even eating dinner, something the family was supposed to do together was something he always did by himself. He eventually had enough and ran away.

He was basically homeless for a while after that, getting food any way he could, doing odd jobs, scavenging, he even stole occasionally, but only when it was absolutely necessary. His mother did a good job raising him, and he didn't want to do anything he thought his mother wouldn't be proud of. Though some could say his life was harder than ever, in an odd way he was…happy. No body picked on him (he stopped going to school altogether after he was kicked out) he was free to go where he wanted, when he wanted, getting food was difficult at times, but he always enjoyed his meals because he knew he earned them himself, he never begged. Until one day, when he was desperate for food, he stole someone's purse; he grabbed it while running past them, giving them no time to react until he was already gone. At least, that's what was supposed to happen.

After he had grabbed the purse, he ran no more than three steps until himself kissing the ground in a most painful manner. He quickly got up only to feel the hook end of a cane grab his neck and pull, making him fall on his ass this time. When he looked from his seat on the pavement Kid saw an old man wearing a simple brown suit with a beige under shirt and brown tie, a brown Fedora rested on his head and large, round glasses sat on his nose. He looked passed the old man to see the woman whose purse he stole talking to a police officer, Kid tried to get up to escape, but the man pulled on the cane with surprising strength, keeping him there until the officer got to them. Kid was then detained and put in a holding cell. The next day, the guard on duty opened the door to his cell:

"Hey kid," the guard said, "you've been bailed out, c'mon."

Kid said nothing, but gave the guard a puzzled look as he stood up and followed him out.

When they got to the reception desk, Kid looked around for his bailer, only to find that it was the same man who got him there in the first place! The man slowly got up and walked to them, they did the same and met in the middle of the room. Kid looked at the old man, the man looked back and they studied each other. Getting a closer look, Kid noticed they had a lot of the same features, the man's skin was also brown, though a couple of shades darker, he also had white hair, and a thick white mustache on his face, which he could see move as his mouth curled into a smile. The officer then cut in:

"This the one?"

"Yeah." The old man replied, his voice was deep and raspy, it sounded like a voice of a man with decades of experience and wisdom would have. Bet he would be an amazing story teller.

"Alright," the guard said snapping them from their daze. "If you two are done here, have a nice day." With that, the guard walked them out and they left the station.

The two walked in silence for a while until the old man decided to break it:

"So kid, what's your name?"

Kid stayed silent for a moment. "Kaidou." He said.

"Kaidou huh? That's…unique." Kid's eye brow twitched, he knew what the man meant. The man then stopped and turned to Kid, "Name's Rucks, nice to meet ya." Rucks extended his hand, Kid looked at it for a second, then took it in a firm grip, they briefly shook hands, then continued walking. After a couple more moments of silence:

"Thanks." Kid said.

"No problem, just tell me why." Rucks said, still looking straight ahead. Kid turned his gaze downward, his face laced with guilt. "I was hungry." Rucks then looked at him. "You don't got a home?"

"No." Rucks was pained to hear this, and it showed on his face. He then turned forward, picking up his pace a bit. "C'mon" he said, Kid looked at him, confused. "Where we goin'?"

"My place, we gotta get you fed so you don't steal no one else's purse." Rucks turned to Kid and smiled, then turned back around and kept walking.

Rucks' place a simple little one story house with a white exterior and dark roof, the inside was also fairly simple, just past the small entrance way was a small coffee table in the center of the room with a brown wooden rocking chair next to it, further along, the kitchen sported a counter with brown granite on top, on the other side of the kitchen the same countertop can be seen, however that side had the sink, stove, etc. After cooking a quick meal for the both of them, Rucks and Kid talked. Their conversation lasted for hours, bouncing between topics such as food, music, and Rucks' day's as a youth, and how he got here. Time passed and it was getting dark out, Rucks' showed Kid to a guest room he had in the back, "You aint sleepin' in the street no more, not while I'm here" was Rucks' answer when Kid asked him why he showed him the room. Kid reluctantly accepted the offer when Rucks made it clear he wasn't taking no for an answer. Kid never knew how much he missed sleeping in a bed until he laid down and almost instantly feel asleep.

Life with Rucks was nice, the two genuinely enjoyed each other's company, Kid even came to trust him enough to share his life's story. Kid never went back to school despite Rucks' insistence, but he did manage to get a job as a janitor for a local hospital. He worked until just before sundown, and it was always dark before he got home, but it was an honest day's work, and was better than being in the house all day doing nothing. He used the money he earned to help Rucks out; paying some of the bills, shopping for groceries, and other things of the like. But Rucks always wanted Kid to go back to school, if not for himself, than for him, Rucks knew that he won't be around forever, and he wanted to make sure Kid could take care of himself when he was gone. At first Kid was adamant about not going, but as time went on Kid started to consider it.

Until, on this very night, Kid decided to at least try to go back. 'Maybe…' he thought to himself, but a loud scream coming from the alleyway he was passing stopped his thoughts, and he turned to see figures standing over a small blond girl. Her clothes were ripped, but he could see her emerald eyes were filled with tears. He wasn't exactly sure what they were planning to do to her, but he did know it wasn't good, he also knew that he had to stop them. So, he dropped his things, and entered the alleyway. "HEY!" Kid yelled, getting the figure's attention, "Let her go!".


End file.
